Disclaimer: I do not own One-Piece nor any of it's characters. Those belong to Oda Eiichiro.

Nunya Bizniz

Chapter Eleven: Preparing for Reunion

When the Nunya broke through to the surface the bubble coating the ship popped with a over exaggerated noise. Rachel raised the sails, hit the button that lowered the mast and started the engine. It wouldn't take her too long to reach the harbor Missy and Ace waited at. Both expecting copper, although they would be dissappointed. Land was spotted about a half-hour later. Rachel got a little closer, then stopped the engine. A few minutes to reach the dock on the inside and she was lowering the ramp. She didn't know how long it would take Missy and Ace to notice the Nunya, but she was ready nonetheless. Rachel then moved to the large kitchen the three of them shared. It was her turn to cook for the night and she decided to make something she hadn't made in a while as a form of apology for not getting the copper. It would take a while to make so the sooner she started the better.

Rachel was just putting the food into the oven when Missy and Ace came in. "You should be more cautious with the dock," Ace started. "Anyone could have snuck on board and raided the place."

"No one dares to go near such a strange ship," Rachel dismissed. "Most think that it's haunted or something."

"People are starting to change their opinion," Ace pointed out. "You've had more requests from villages lately. Not to mention that Shanks paid us a visit not too long ago. He wasn't worried about this being a ghost ship."

"Well, Shanks is a special case." Rachel sat at the table with a cup of tea. "It's kind of like Luffy, if you think about it. Since when has either followed the line of normal thinking of anyone else?"

Missy walked over to a chalk board they had set up in the galley. All three names were across the top. Under each name were a set of lines made by chalk. "That's a point for Rachel," she said. Missy picked up a piece of chalk and made a mark under Rachel's name. Rachel and Missy's names were fairly even with a lot of lines under them. Ace was way behind the two of them.

"You two need to take this more seriously," Ace continued. "This is the New World we're talking about. Anything could happen at any moment. A bunch of sharkmen could jump up and out of the water onto the deck at any minute. Don't give me that look, you've been to Fishman Island so you know that they're out there."

"That's not why I'm giving you 'the look'," Rachel disagreed. "I'm giving you 'the look' because right now Fishman Island has other things to worry about. Rebuilding the town, for example."

"What are you talking about?" Ace asked.

"I arrived at Fishman Island not too long after the New Fishman Pirates were defeated by the Straw Hats."

"That means that they've had their reunion and are now in New World," Missy voiced what she and Ace realized. "So that means we don't have a lot of time left to figure out what to do next. Which reminds me, you couldn't go one day without saying something?""

"I didn't say a word," Rachel defended. "I was in a cafe, minding my own business..."

"Doubt it," Ace muttered. Missy then put a line under his name.

"When I saw a crab man walk past," Rachel ignored them. "I even shouted that neither of you could hit me since I said nothing. I tried to get out of Dodge, but I was a little late. I guess this is an example of why we should leave before the crabs show up."

"What do you mean that you were a little late?" Missy asked.

"As I was sitting at the table, I was joined by a few of the Straw Hats, Zoro included."

Missy rolled her eyes at that. "Oh I'm so sure that you were upset he sat at the same table as you," she said sarcastically.

"Anyway, I had to play the role of politeness since Nami and Robin were also there. The last thing we need is for those two to become curious about our origins. I bowed out as quickly as I could though."

"Nothing weird happened, right?" Ace asked.

Rachel turned her eyes up to the ceiling as she thought. "Nothing that I can think of," she said slowly. "Except, now that I think about it, there was this one moment Nami did something odd. She asked Zoro if he remembered what I was wearing when we met. When he proved that he did she asked if he remembered her, which he kind of said 'no' to. After that, Nami moved to sit next to me and started asking me a few personal questions. Nothing too serious, at least nothing that caused me worry. Though Robin also joined in on the questioning. Then Nami and Robin left to the bathroom, that's when I bowed out."

"What kind of personal questions?" Ace asked.

"They asked who was my type."

A shadow fell over Ace's face as he smiled slowly. "Your type?"

"I told them I didn't give it much thought and I didn't have one."

"Of course you don't have one," Ace continued. "You're my little sister and therefore no type is good enough for you." His attention was drawn to Missy when she started to laugh. "That goes for you too."

"Hey!"

Rachel was shrugging in the background. "It doesn't really bother me," she said. "I already know that the one I'm interested in would never act in such a way. So your worries are unfounded."

"You said you didn't have a type," Ace accused. He whipped around to face Rachel again and pointed at her.

"That's what I said to Nami and Robin," Rachel agreed. "I only said that to them so they wouldn't get any funny ideas."

"Which may have been futile," Missy pointed out. "Or at least, it would be futile in Nami's case. She might get Robin to go along with it."

"Damn, didn't think about that."

"Rae," Ace was steaming at this point. "Who exactly are you interested in?"

"Why?"

"So I can go have a little chat."

"By chat, don't you mean barbeque?" Missy asked.

"What's the difference?" Ace smiled, steam still rolling off of him in waves. Missy put another line under his name.

"I'd say a lot," Rachel muttered. She then cleared her throat. "Anyway, it's not important one way or another. Nothing is going to happen so let's leave it at that."

"What makes you think nothing is going to happen?" Ace asked. The steam was starting to let up.

"I'm a bit of a traditionalist," Rachel pointed out. "I fully believe that it's the man's job to make the first move."

"If he doesn't?" Ace challenged.

"It's his loss." Rachel raised an eyebrow when Ace pumped a fist in joy.

"Now on to a different subject," Missy interrupted. "The Straw Hats are back and as strong, if not stronger, than ever. It would benefit us to meet with them soon. That way Ace can show Luffy he's alive."

Missy and Rachel then nodded to each other. As one, both women turned to face Ace. "You have a choice," Rachel started. "We'll take you to see Luffy if you want. Then you can do whatever you want from then on. You could also do whatever you want now. We won't stop you if you want to leave."

"The two of you know where Luffy is heading next," Ace pointed out. "I think that I would like you to take me to him."

"It will be a bit of a wait," Missy said. "It will take them some time to reach Dressrosa after all."

"That's fine," Ace nodded in agreement.

"That's perfect," Rachel stood with a cheer. "That gives me plenty of time for a new modification I've been planning. We just need to find a port that has a dry dock."

"Why would you need a dry dock?" Missy hesitated in her questioning. She knew when Rachel had an evil scheme running through her head.

"Two words for you," Rachel held up two fingers. "Torpedo Launcher."

"God help us."

"What's that?" Ace had a confused look on his face.

"You know my turrets that can be raised on deck?" Rachel waited for Ace to show that he was listening. "Think of it as a gun like that. The only difference is that it's underwater and the bullets it fires also have propellers shooting them out to enemy vessels. Since it's under the water, the enemy will never know what hit them."

Ace was now wearing an evil smirk of his own. "I like it." Missy threw her hands up into the air. "We'll need to head to a dry dock quickly," Ace continued. He pulled a map from a shelf and put it on the table. "This is where we're at." His finger pointed to a spot on the New World side of the map, close to the Redline. "If you're looking for a port with a dry dock, it limits our options. We could always go to a marine run town."

"Out of the question," Missy said. "We can't risk you being recognized if you leave the ship, especially when there are marines around."

"I didn't think so," Ace agreed. "So our only option is this island." Ace's hand moved slightly away from the Redline. "It has a dry dock that anyone can use. The man that runs it is a former Marine, but he loves the sea and boats so much that he lets anyone dock there. His docking prices are reasonable as well. Whitebeard and his commanders used them from time to time." At the mention of Whitebeard, Ace's face became withdrawn and somber.

Rachel and Missy glanced at eachother then back to Ace. It wouldn't do him any good to dwell on the past. "So the two of you will let me do this?" Rachel asked.

"Will you leave us alone if we didn't?" Missy returned.

"Not a chance," Rachel smiled.

"Then we really don't have a choice, now do we?" Ace asked.

~Once they reached the dry dock Rachel got to work right away. It was easy and faster than she had expected with Ace helping her. He could weld the metal together faster than her own machine. That was saying alot since she treated that thing like it was her only life line.

A little less than a week and they were on their way once again. "Now all you need is to build those torpedos," Missy joked. "It's just too bad that we ran out of copper." She had a teasing smile on her face.

"Yeah, about that." Rachel had a blush on her face as she put a hand on her head. "Why do you think we ran out of copper faster than estimated?"

"You mean you already built the things?" Missy snapped.

"Copper is a great conductor," Rachel slowly backed up.

"I don't care if the Pope is Catholic," Missy yelled. Ace stared at the two of them. He was used to their random references now. He made a note to ask about what a Pope and Catholic were when things weren't so volitile.

"I hear he also enjoys pizza."

"Rae!"

Ace turned around and walked away. Rachel could handle Missy when she was like this. He, on the other hand, still became scared by that look in her eye. If anyone had mastered making you feel guilty with just a look, even if you weren't the one she was looking at, it was her. Ace shook his head when he heard Rachel start laughing. When he had first witnessed a situation like this he had thought she had a death wish. It turned out that she was genuinely amused that Missy thought she could get to her with a look.

~Dressrosa was in sight, Missy was on the bridge behind the helm. Rachel was chasing Ace around on the deck below shouting. Missy opened a window to hear what was going on. "You need a disguise," Rachel was shouting. "It will turn your hair a nice shade of orange. You like orange, right? Your favorite hat is orange."

"I'm not bleaching my hair!" Ace shouted. "Leave me alone you she-devil."

"I'm just saying that it's dangerous as you are," Rachel pressed. "It wouldn't kill you to look a little different."

The two continued to run around the deck for a few minutes. Ace, having enough, skidded to a stop and pointed to Rachel. "If you don't leave me alone I'll stuff one of my dirty socks in your mouth and tie it there with another dirty sock."

Rachel stopped and turned around. She started heading towards the door. "A black hat will work just as well," she changed her mind.

"That's what I thought," Ace smirked.

"Need to give that man another point," Missy laughed.